UNIT-4
NEW DIMENSIONS IN PROJECT MANGEMENT
Projects have been around since the Great Pyramids, but how we approach managing them has changed. Modern project management has been developing over several decades. Let us have a glance with traditional project management.
Traditionally, projects were predictable workflows that arrived at predictable results. Processes were efficient , accurate ad stable. Sometimes these were called "continual effort" projects, as they emphasized repeatable work that didn't change often(for instance, maintenance activities).
Today, projects have changed. Services firms provide more "single-time efforts" than continuous ones. Their projects are often unique and short-term (for instance, building a website or implementing a software product).
Traditional project management serves continual efforts. It uses common technology, known scopes and task based workflows to achieve mostly predictable results. Issues arise only occasionally.
Modern project management serves unique projects. These could be one time projects, such as website builds. Often, a services provider specializes in delivering unique projects repeatedly, such as a creative website builder. Because f its customized results, modern project management requires more flexible processes and scopes as well as highly specialized resources. It's common to find services firm tapping outside resources through contract tasks that roll up into a larger project within the provider's core services offering.
Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM) :- The PMMM or the project management maturity model is a concept that lets project-based organizations assess their project management success. According to the ideology proposed by this model, there are five levels of project management maturity that each business must go through on their path to success.
Studies have shown that businesses with poor project management performance are more likely to register financial loss due to increased cost per project and low quality outputs. If we are looking at ways to improve our business process, it may be helpful to assess our current level in the PMMM and find ways to move on to the following stage. We will discuss the five levels of PMMM in order to understand how to move the PMMM ladder of project management success.
The Five Levels of PMMM:- The PMMM started as a framework developed by the software engineering institute at Carnegie Mellon University in the mid 1980s. Its purpose was to help the government assess software contractors in order to decide which would be best to deliver complex projects. The model was designed to analyze the standard practices maintained by a company while working on software projects. However, the PMMM is the only one that closely aligns with the original model, with the exception that it focuses on the assessment of project management capabilities using the five different stages mentioned below:-
Level 1:- The Initial Process
At this level, the organization operates quite randomly with low implementation of control tools. In this scenario, it is difficult to predict any future success, since we can't tell how the organization will behave in a crisis.
Level 2:- Structured Process and Standards
Companies at level two implement basic project management practices, but only on an individual project level. This means there is no broad approach regarding PM success, which is likely to depend on key individuals in the organization. This level is still low when it faces an emergency situation and it is equally difficult to predict success with any degree of certainty.
Level 3:- Organizational Standards and Institutionalized Process
With this level, we are stepping into a different organizational structure, with well-defined procedures that are seen as the standard way of doing things. The business is well-organized, and the management is involved in implementing ad supporting the use of these procedures.
At this level, the organization is prepared to face a crisis as it has the necessary documented procedures that will guide both management and employees towards the steps to take. An organization at level three is interested in documentation that helps define the relationship between management and employees and between the organization and customers.
Level 4:- Managed Process
Level 4 introduces metrics that are used to assess the current level of productivity based on the project management procedures and standards that are in effect. This way, the management can know, at any time, if a project is destined for success or if there are problems that need to be addressed.
Level 5:- Optimizing Process
Finally, at the top level, the focus is set on optimization. With all the right procedures in place and available at an organizational level, the management is interested in continuously improving project management based on their specific experience. It also tells about an opening toward innovative techniques not used by the organizations that could bring a competitive edge.
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Continuous improvement, sometimes called continual improvement, is the ongoing improvement of products, services or processes through incremental and breakthrough improvements. These efforts can seek "incremental" improvement over time or "breakthrough" improvement all at once.
Among the most widely used tools for the continuous improvement model is a four step quality assurance method- the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) CYCLE :-
* Plan : Identify an opportunity and plan for change.
* Do : Implement the change on a small scale.
* Check : Use data to analyze the results of the change and determine whether it made a difference.
* Act : If the change was successful, implement it on a wider scale and continuously assess our results. If the change did not work, begin the cycle again.
Other widely used methods of continuous improvement, such as Six Sigma, lean and total quality management emphasize employee involvement and teamwork, work to measure and systematize processes, and reduce variation, defects and cycle times.
Developing Effective Procedural Documentation :-Project management methodologies require a project management information system(PMIS), which is based upon procedural documentation. The procedural documentation can be in the form of policies, procedures, guidelines, forms and checklists or even a combination of these. Good procedural documentation will encourage the project management maturity process, foster support at all levels of management and greatly improve project communications. The type of procedural documentation selected can change over the years and is heavily biased on whether we wish to manage more formally or informally .In any event, procedural documentation supports effective communications, which in turn, provides for better interpersonal skills.
An aspect of project management methodology is to give the people in the organization with procedural documentation on how to conduct project oriented activities and how to communicate in such a multidimensional environment.
The project management policies, procedures, forms and guidelines can provide some of these tools for presenting the process, as well as a format for collecting, processing and communicating project related data in an orderly standardized format. Project planning and tracking involve more than just the generation f paperwork. They need the participation of the entire project team, including support departments, subcontractor sand top management.
This involvement of the entire team gives a unifying team environment. This unity helps the team focus on the project goals and gives each team member's personal commitment to fulfill the various task within time and budget limitations. The specific benefits of procedural documents, including forms and checklists are that they help to:-
* Provide guidelines and uniformity
* Encourage useful, but minimum documentation
* Communicate clearly and effectively
* Standardize data formats
* Unify project teams
* Provide a basis for analysis
* Document agreements for future reference
*Refuel commitments
*Minimize paperwork
*Minimize conflict and confusion
* Delineate work packages
* Bring new team members onboard
* Build an experience track and method for future projects.
Capacity Planning :- Capacity planning is a process that balances the available hours of teams against what the project needs. Capacity in this case is the most work that can be done over a certain timeframe. It is a bit of a manipulating act that has to keeps several balls in the air, such as the availability of the team, the money in the budget for those hours and what is demanded by the client, stakeholders or customer. Capacity and project planning obviously go hand-in-glove. Planning is how one schedules the hours of the team members so that the work gets done in time.
Some of the tips for capacity planning are:-
1) Keep the lines of communications open between executives, project management leaders and stakeholders.
2) Document known risks (such as union strikes, weather, government regulations ) that stop a project or create new ones unexpectedly.
3) Plan for how to handle too much capacity ( where is it and how to resolve it, such as reassigning) or not enough capacity(again, where/how).
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b) PROJECT MONITORING &CONTROLLING :-
Project monitoring and controlling is the process of tracking, reviewing, and regulating the progress in order to meet the performance objectives. It is the fourth process group in project management. Moreover, this process is concerned with:-
* Measuring the actual performance against the planned performance.
* Assessing performance to determine whether or not any corrective or preventive actions are indicated.
* Maintaining an accurate, timely information base concerned with the project output and its associated documentation till project completion.
* Providing information to support status reporting, progress measurement and forecasting.
* Providing forecasts to update current cost and current schedule information.
* Monitoring implementation of approved changes as they occur.
The purpose of project monitoring and control is to provide an understanding of the project's progress so that appropriate corrective actions can be taken when the project's performance deviates significantly from the project plan. A project's documented plan is the basis for monitoring activities, communicating status and taking corrective actions. Progress is determined by comparing actual work product and task attributes, effort, cost and schedule to the plan at prescribed milestones or control levels within the project schedule. The term " project plan" is used throughout these practices to refer to the overall plan for controlling the project. When actual status deviates significantly from the expected values, corrective actions are taken as appropriate.
Project monitoring and control activities take place in parallel with project execution process group activities so that while the project work is being executed, the project is being monitored and controlled by implementing the appropriate level of oversight and corrective action. Corrective action can require revisiting planning process group and updating the project management plan as need with the ultimate goal of bringing the project back in lie with project objectives and limitations improving future execution to avoid repeating the same issues.
The Planning- Monitoring and Controlling Cycle :- The planning- monitoring and controlling cycle is a process that tracks the actual project performance with the planned project management activities. Manage and control process is a control function that takes place at all stages of the project from initiation through closing. The key benefit of this process is that it allows the stakeholders to understand the current state of the project, the steps taken, and budget, schedule and scope forecasts.
Through the process of monitor and control, the project manger must be in a position to balance the requirements that arise from different knowledge areas. For example, the project manager can undergo situations, where a project is completed on time, but it has failed to meet the quality standards mentioned in the project management plan. Likewise, the project might have a significant scope, but unfortunately, it has exceeded the time and cost limit. Hence, the process of monitoring and controlling project work is considered extremely important.
The main roles and responsibilities associated with project planning are:-
* Senior responsible owner: Confirming that the project has a coherent set of plans at the appropriate levels, the SRO will approve plans including any proposed changes to scope, cost or timescale and monitor the impact of plan changes on the business case and stage progress against agreed tolerances.
*Project board :- It is responsible for the decision making process supporting project plan creation, the board will approve all stage and project plans and all associated resource, time and cost implications.
* Project manager :- Preparing project and stage plans, monitoring and updating them regularly, the PM will cooperate with the program manager on relevant planning issues and alert the SRO or project board to any potential conditions, preparing exception plans as required.
* Project management office :- Administering project change control procedures, maintain planning standards and procedures and updating and maintaining all project, stage, team and other relevant plans under the direction of the project manager.
Monitoring is about assessing what work has been completed for a program or project including costs, risks and issues. In addition the SRO and board will routinely monitor if the business case continues to be viable and in alignment with strategic objectives. This usually takes the form of the production of documentation and reports at key stages. Monitoring is used to oversee progress of products, outputs ad outcomes.
Controls usually relate to stages in projects and are established to control the delivery of the project's outputs. In project management, controls are:-
* Event driven:- meaning that the control occurs because a specific event has taken place, examples are end stage reports, completion of a project initiation document and creation of an exception plan.
* Time driven:- meaning controls are regular progress feedbacks, examples, include checkpoint and highlight reporting.
Controls then assist with both monitoring and reporting by provision of required review points such as end stage assessments. This does not replace the need for the board to maintain an overall view of progress.
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Computers and project management is a course designed to help the learner in developing competence in project management software following appreciation of project management information system. For this reason, the course is divided into two sections in a preliminary order. The first section focuses on project management information system. Project management information system is a framework for guiding the progress of a project and helps to increase its success at all levels. It bring accurate and relevant decision making process and any action necessary to ensure that the project I on track in terms of time, budget, scope, quality and timeline objectives. Learning project management information system in this course is designed to be a foundation that will enable a learner to apply any project management software in project management.
Project operates in a dynamic environment. The project manager needs timely and accurate information to respond to environmental changes. Information is the life blood of a project. It is a prerequisite of project control. It is vital for managing stakeholders expectations.
Project Management Information System(PMIS) is a database for project. It collects, analyses, stores, retrieves and disseminated project information for making project decisions. It consists of people, equipment and procedures. It is generally of an ad-hoc nature till the life of the project.
Project Management Information System is based on various forms ad reports that generate written information for decision making and control. The requirements for PMIS are:-
1) Project forms are filled in periodically based on the measurement of progress of each activity.
2) The forms are entered in the PMIS and analyzed to prepare a report for dissemination to all the concerned project personnel.
3) Corrective actions are taken by the project manager based on performance deviations identified by PMIS reports.
Computerized PMIS are most commonly used to consolidate data in projects. Decision support system database are used to analyze data. Software is carefully selected.
Balance in Control System in Project Management :- Projects have to be structured and managed, maintaining a balance between utilizing the organization's resources for daily operations and for required tasks to complete work activities on a project. Resources can be human resources and any other resources, including financial requirements that will be needed on a project, however, they have to be defined, showing how they can be utilized in the balance of daily operations tasks and special project tasks. This can create a challenge for operations managers because thy have an obligation to daily work activities but want to see special projects completed and struggle with ways to balance human resources and other resources within their department to complete both of these tasks. Part of this dilemma stems from the department manger being loyal to his obligation in the daily operations and will typically err to ensuring operations are not impacted, thus creating limitations for utilizing resources on special projects. Project managers can use resources from outside the organization if internal resources are not available.
Project Auditing- Life Cycle :- Project Auditing can be defined as the process of detailed inspection of the management of a project , its methodology, its techniques, its procedures, its documents, its properties, its budgets, its expenses and it level of completion.
A project audit is a key step in the process of closing a project. This audit evaluates the total project processes and outcomes. The life cycle of an audit contains six phases:- audit initiation, project baseline definition, establishing a database, preliminary project analysis, preparing final report and terminating the project. The project audit initiation will start the process by creating the purpose, scope and methodology that will be used to determine the information that will be analyzed. The project baseline definition determines what areas of the project will be analyzed and the standards that will be compared against similar project that have been conducted or benchmarked. Establishing an audit database which requires gathering an assessment of how the project is doing by inputting the information and determining how the areas of cost performance, output quality and the current project status are doing. The preliminary analysis of the project will inform the project manager of the findings before the report is released. The audit report preparation will be organized in the format that was set initially which will provide findings and recommendations. The last step in the life cycle of the audit is termination which is when the review is finished and the audit team moves on to another project. An important aspect of the audit is the selection of the audit and evaluation team who will inspect the records and have full access to the information.
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c) PROJECT TERMINATION& SOLVING PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS :-
Termination means to fire someone from a job. Project termination or close out is the last stage of managing the project, and occurs after the implementation phase has ended.
If the project is completed or implemented within its time and cost constraints successfully or if the project is closed before being matured or implementation is said to project termination. Project termination is also known as the ending of a project. Therefore, the completion or the closure of project is said to be termination of the project. A project can be terminated upon successful completion of project activities or unwillingness of entrepreneurs. As projects near completion, there is natural tendency to minimize costs by transferring people as soon as possible and by closing out work orders. Termination is the stage of project cycle where it becomes the responsibility of the project manager to originate project termination activities into the project work plan. These should be seen as vital parts of the project and not just an additional. It should be confirmed that final reports are well written and an effective transfer of raw materials to other programs takes place on time. For this purpose, many projects may even require one to two months after work completion simply for administrative reporting and final cost summarizing. There should be post auditing and formal evaluation of the project in terms of objectivity of the project.
Reasons for Termination of Projects:- Every project has to officially end sometime. Project termination need not necessarily mean project failure or premature abandonment. A project may be terminated for variety of reasons, including successful completion of the endeavor.
Let us imagine the despair when the project we initiate with lot of hopes and hard work, fails miserably. However sad it is, many projects miss the mark completely and lead to waste of time as well as efforts. It also comes out as a major blow to the project manager and shakes the confidence of all the team members involved in the project.
However, team members can feel sometimes that something is not right, that the project may not transform into what was envisioned. Sometimes signs are clear and at times they are hidden. No matter which project we are working on, there are few alerts which shout out loud that it is in the best interest of the team and the company to terminate the project. Here are the reasons for terminating a project :-
* Expensive or does not meet company's goal:-Make an estimate of the total cost of the project in the planning stage itself. A few thousand dollars here and there are manageable, but when we see the figure going way over our approximate value, it is better to put an end to the project right in the initiation stage. Also if the project does not go well with the strategic plan of the company, it should not be given the green signal.
* Our competitors are doing a better job:- As a project manager, we may be motivated to prove our mettle and take our company ahead in the market, but think logically and determine if it is possible. Many a times, we may be motivated at the start of the project but once we begin with it and have to face grave challenges one after another, the positive drive may fizzle out and we may be left with a project that is going nowhere. Even if we realize it midway on the project, do not hesitate to pull the plug.
* Project gets out of control:- When operations get way beyond control or when damages cannot be repaired anymore, we know it is time to terminate the project.
* Important or priority project comes up :- Businesses take up several projects simultaneously. However, there are some projects which need more time, energy and resources. If a certain project is stopping us from allocating the required resources in a bigger, important project, it is better to let go of the smaller project.
* Failure in testing process :- It is said to see a project fail during testing. If the team members gave it all that they could and the project still could not succeed, putting an end to the project is a sensible choice rather than spending twice the energy and resources on it again.
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A project is a temporary endeavor, so it has a beginning and also an end. Every process group has a particular objective. During the last phase of project life cycle, meaning the project closure, everything should be detailed in order to measure if the project went as planned and if the outcome is done as required by the customer.
The steps for closing process group activities are :-
Project closure Step 1: Confirm work is done as per the requirements
Once the project is closing, all deliverables of the project must have been completed and delivered to the customer. We should also take formal acceptance of the customer for the completed work.
Project closure Step 2: Complete procurement closure
Since the project is closing, we should complete any remaining payments that need to be made to the suppliers or partners. The procurement steps are also completed.
Project closure Step 3: Gain formal acceptance
Formal acceptance of the project and project deliverables are taken from the customer. Usually, the customer presents a written document, it can be an email or a signed off document, which states that the project has been completed and they accept the outputs of the project.
Project closure Step4: Complete final performance reporting
The final performance of the project is calculated and recorded. These include cost performance, schedule performance, quality performance etc. For instance, whether the project has been completed under budget or if it could not be completed, how much did the project exceeded the planned budget?
Project closure Step 5: Index and archive records
Collected documents are finalized. Final versions of the project management plans and all necessary documents about the project are archived in the company records.
Project closure Step 6: Update lessons learned
Lessons learned is collected and gathered from all stakeholders. Lessons learned documentation is stored in the organizational process assets of the company.
Project closure Step 7: Hand-off completed product
Once the project is completed, the product of the project is handed over for the use of the end customer. The handover may need a predetermined period of assistance or some documents describing how to use or how to operate with the product.
Project closure Step 8: Release the resources
After the project is completed successfully, all assignments of the project resources are closed, lessons learned inputs from the project resources are collected and ten these resources are released respectively.
As we see, the project closure is also as important as the other phases, o we must take these activities into consideration for better outcomes in our next projects.
Strategy/Ways to Solve Project Management Problems:-
Some problems are small and can be resolved quickly. Other problems are large and may require significant time and effort to solve. These bigger problems are often controlled by converting them into formal projects. Whether the problem we are focusing on is small or big, using a systematic approach for solving it will help us be a more effective project manager.
This approach defines five problem solving steps we can use for most problems..
1) Define the problem:- The most important of the problem solving steps is to define the problem correctly. The way we define the problem will determine how we attempt to solve it. For example, if we receive a complaint about one of our project team members from ac client, the solutions we come up with will be different based on the way we define the problem.
If we define the problem as poor performance by the team member we will develop different solutions than if we define the problem as poor expectation setting with the client.
2) Determine the causes:- Once we have defined the problem, we are ready to dig deeper and start to determine what is causing it. If we see the problem as a gap between where we are now and where we want to be, the causes of the problem are the obstacles that are preventing us from closing that gap immediately.
This level of analysis is important to make sure our solutions address the actual causes of the problem instead of the symptoms of the problem. If our solution fixes a symptom instead of an actual cause, the problem is likely to reoccur since it was never truly solved.
3) Generate ideas :- Once the hard work of defining the problem and determining its causes has been completed, it's time to get creative and develop possible solutions to the problem. Two great problem solving methods we can use for are brainstorming and mind mapping.
4)Select the best solution:- After we come up with several ideas that can solve the problem, one problem solving technique for solving our problem is trade-off analysis. To perform the trade-off analysis, we have to define the critical criteria for the problem that we can use to evaluate for comparison with each other. The evaluation can done using a simple matrix. The highest ranking solution will be our best solution for this problem.
5) Take action :- Once we have determined which solution we will apply, it is time to take action. If the solution involves several actions or requires action form others, it is a good idea to create an action plan and treat it s a mini-project.
Using the simple five step approach can increase the effectiveness of our problem solving skills.
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A project is monitored during the implementation phase so that time and cost are minimized. After a project is commissioned its performance is periodically reviewed to see whether its performance has been in line with expectations. If things turn sour, the negligence may also have to be examined. Project review is the assessment of the status of the project at a given stage.
This is a very important aspect of project management assist helps us know what is the progress in the project, are there any difficulties in executing the project and if there are ay issues then what should be done to solve them.
We will study the project review and its administrative aspects in the successful completion of a project.
1) Control of in-progress projects:- A lot of efforts is expended in selecting capital projects, things often wrong in implementation phase. This is cleared from the frequent cost and time over-runs witnessed in practice.
There are two aspects of controlling in progress capital projects:-
* Establishment of internal control procedures.
* Use of regular progress reports.
2) Post-completion audits :-An audit of a project after it has been commissioned is referred to as a post audit.
Regular post completion audits of capital projects are:-
* Provide a documented log of experience that may be valuable in improving future decision making.
* Enable the firm in identifying individuals with superior abilities in planning and forecasting.
* Help in discovering systematic biases in judgment.
* Include healthy caution among project sponsors.
* Serve as a useful training ground for promising executives who need broader business experience and exposure.
3) Abandonment analysis ;- Capital expenditure management is a dynamic process. Its cannot be regarding as a commitment till the end of project life. As time roll on, changes occur which can alter the attractiveness of projects or entire division.
This technique used to analyze anew project can also be used to analyze whether an existing project should be continued or terminated.
4) Administrative aspects of capital budgeting:-
* Identification of promising investment opportunities
* Classification of investment
* Submission of proposals
* Decision making
* Preparation of capital budget & appropriation
* Implementation
* Performance review
5) Agency problem :- Manager enjoy substantial autonomy and have a natural inclination to pursue their own goals this is the agency problem.
To prevent from being dislodged from their position, managers may try to achieve some acceptable level of performance as far as shareholders welfare is concerned.
They seek to following:-
* Preside over a big empire that give them power, stature and high compensation
*Pursue pet project that draw on their special skills and competencies so that their position in the organization is entrenched.
*Avoid risks because acceptance of high firm specific risks, although quite acceptable to diversified shareholders, can threaten the security of their job and the growth prospects with the firm.
Agency cost can be mitigated by monitoring the action and behavior of mangers and by offering them right incentives that motivate them to maximize value.
6) Evaluating the capital budgeting system of an organization:- It's may be evaluated in following criteria:-
*Results* Techniques*Communication*Decentralization*Intelligibility*Flexibility* Control* Review.
Execution Tools for Closing of Projects:- The closing phase of project management involves several steps. Work through the following checklist to confirm our project is successfully completed.
1) Formally transfer all deliverables :- The first step for closing of projects is to finalize and transfer the project deliverables to the client. Go through our project plan to identify all deliverables and make sure they have been fully completed and handed off.
2) Confirm project completion:- Next, confirm the project is complete. It is not enough to declare a project do by self. Each person involved needs to agree on the project's completion before we can formally close it out and move on.
To confirm the project's completion, we will need approvals for the project deliverables with official sign-offs from the project stakeholders.
3) Review all contracts and documentation:- Once we have completed the project hand-off and received approvals from the clients, we can begin closing out our contracts. Review all the project documentation to confirm all parties have been paid for the work and there are no outstanding invoices.
4)Release resources :- Formally release resources from the project, including suppliers, contractors, team members and any other partners. Notify them of the end of the project, confirm any final payments or obligations and officially release them so they are free to work on other project.
5) Conduct a post-mortem:- A post-mortem or project review is one of the most valuable steps of the project closure process. This is a time to review the successes, failures and challenges of the project and identify opportunities for improvements going forward.
As we begin our post-mortem, conduct a performance review of the project. In other words, calculate the project's performance in terms of cost, schedule and quality.
6) Archive documentation:- Once we have completed our project post-mortem, we can finalize all documentation and index them in the company archives for later reference.
Be sure to keep clear notes on the project's performance and improvement opportunities so we can easily reference and implement them on similar projects n the future.
7) Celebrate:- Finally, w should not forget to celebrate. The end of a project is a great achievement and represents the culmination of many hours of hard work and dedication from a team of contributors.
An end of project party is a great way to identify our team's hard work and increase morale. A happy team is more likely to work with us in the future so we can build on our past successes and become a more effective unit going forward.
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Reference-
1.The Lazy Project Manager by Peter Taylor
2. Project Management by K. Nagaranjan
